Hacktivism: Can Ethical Hacking be Used for Political or Social Causes?
Hacktivism, a kind of cyber activism, is the practice of hacking into a computer system to launch an informational conflict for various causes, including political, social, religious, or anarchistic ones. Virtual vigilantes, also defined as hacktivists, create and use hacking tools for the benefit of an agenda, and they have been shown to be effective change agents. Many incidences of political and social shifts as a result of hacktivist efforts have occurred; however, they tend to be more about interruption than disobedience.
In this blog, we look at the reasons behind hacktivists' motivations, their objectives, and some preventative measures.
What is Hacktivism?
The term "hacktivism" refers to the use of digital technologies and criminal methods to carry out an action motivated by moral, political, or other ethically dubious or dubious religious reasons via the Internet. Hacktivism is the practice of gaining unauthorized access to a computer system or network for political or social goals. The terms hacking and activism were combined to form the term. Political or social activists who want to further one of their causes may engage in hacktivism, which is when they utilize technology to do so. It mostly targets corporations or the government, but it may also attack any illustrious institution, including terrorist organizations or religious organizations.
A hacktivist is a person who engages in this type of hacktivism and carries out actions like disclosing information about an organization or tampering with its website. Hacktivism attacks are often conducted by groups of hackers.
Motives of Hacktivists
Typically, hackers are motivated by humanitarian or ideological goals, such as social justice or freedom of expression. Their intention is to interfere with services in order to draw attention to a political or social issue. Hacktivists commonly utilize distributed
denial-of-service (DDoS) or denial-of-service (DoS) tactics to flood websites and obstruct traffic. Hacktivists want their work to be seen by others to spur action or change. Although there are many reasons why people become hackers, we've addressed more prevalent ones here:
● Monetary Benefit
Money is a hacker's major driving force, and there are several ways to acquire it. They might obtain access to a bank or investment account directly; steal the password to your financial websites and then move the assets to one of their own; trick a worker into sending money using a sophisticated spear phishing scheme; or launch a ransomware assault on your entire business.
● Political Motive
Several cybercriminal organizations target major corporations using their hacking prowess. They are typically driven by some form of purpose, such as raising awareness of human rights issues or warning a major firm about system vulnerabilities. These organizations can claim to be exercising their right to free speech while also stealing information, but more often than not, they will deploy a Distributed Denial of Service assault to overwhelm a website with too much traffic and make it crash.
● Acknowledgement & Success
The sense of accomplishment that comes with breaking into a significant system drives some hackers. While some people work alone or in teams, on some level, they want to be acknowledged. This relates to the idea that cybercriminals are ambitious people who enjoy the challenge that their acts present.
● Corporate Spying
This kind of cyberattack is employed to outwit a rival company. Corporate spying is an activity carried out for business or financial gain and includes acquiring information such as methods, locations, customer information, sales, bids, or plans as well as theft of trade secrets, bribery, or spying.
● Internal Threats
Access to vital data or systems can be readily abused, which would be detrimental to the organization's overall success. Some of the biggest cyber security dangers to businesses are thought to originate from internal workers, vendors, contractors, or partners.
● State Actors
Funding and support are provided by a nation-state to state-sponsored actors. They are especially involved in cybercrime to serve the interests of their nation. The majority of the time, they steal data, including "intellectual property, personally identifiable information, and money to support or promote espionage and exploitative activities." Some state-sponsored entities do, however, launch harmful cyberattacks while arguing that their cyberespionage activities are proper representations of official activity.
The Main Goals of Hacktivism
Hacktivists are often referred to as "ethical hackers" and are driven by justice and the greater good. The following are the goals achieved by hackers:
● Stop funding terrorism, including terrorist activities and organizations.
● Declare your disapproval of any current or impending hostilities.
● Raise the voices of individuals whose rights are being endangered or infringed, typically via the use of social media.
● Avoid censorship regulations.
● By breaking into websites or criticizing government systems, you can advance local and political revolutions.
● Encourage secure border crossing for immigrants.
● Fighting against capitalism and globalization.
● By removing government barriers and encouraging access to online information.
● Discredit the power of powerful institutions like the government.
● Assisting computer users in privacy protection and evading monitoring using private and anonymous networks like Tor.
● By breaking into websites or criticizing government systems, you can advance local and political revolutions.
Types of Hacktivism
To accomplish their objectives, hacktivists utilize a range of hacking tactics, and anonymity is crucial in each one.
● DDoS Attacks - Denial-of-service attacks, such as smurf attacks, overwhelm networks in an attempt to prohibit and impair system access.
● Doxing - Doxing is the public disclosure of identifying and private information about an individual or group. Making private or embarrassing materials available to the public is part of it. Doxing may cause anything from humiliation to jeopardizing military strategy if secret plans are exposed, depending on the sorts of papers that are made public.
● Unknown Blogging - This kind of hacktivism, which is regularly used by journalists and whistleblowers, makes particular problems or information public while safeguarding the source.
● Geo-Bombarding - Geo-bombing exposes the secret location of a picture in social and political videos. This is frequently used to allow spectators to observe the whereabouts of political detainees or detention facilities for human rights advocates.
● Repeating a Site - To get around censorship rules, a website mirroring technique copies an actual website with a slightly modified URL. A website's content may be copied by hacktivists and published under a new Universal Resource Locator when it gets banned. The content is still accessible to the general public since the censoring organization does not ban the second URL.
● Changing the Code of a Website - Hacktivists can alter a website's code to alter the content and design of the site to match the message of their own agendas.
● Information Breach - Insider sources are used in information leaks to make potentially damning material public. Hacktivists release material not just to target an organization or individual who opposes their ideals but also to garner exposure.
What does Hacktivism Target?
Hacktivists commonly target individuals or groups they believe reflect ideologies or behaviors that are contrary to the values upheld by their organization. Even though some hacktivist operations are charitable, breaking into a system of a business is still illegal.
Hacktivists commit data breaches for reasons other than financial gain. Instead, they fight informational battles in political, social, religious, or anarchist ways, depending on their individual goals.
● Political - The goal of hacktivism as a method of political mobilization is to persuade the populace to support the hacker's objective.
● Religious - The goal of hacktivism with a religious objective is to support or denounce a religious organization.
● Social - A goal of hacktivism's social justice movement is to alter society.
● Anarchist - To gain access to or influence over civic infrastructure, military hardware, or the general populace, hackers may have anarchist goals.
How to Prevent Hacktivism?
The first step in preventing a data breach is to be informed of what hacktivism is, what it targets, and the intentions of hacktivists. Following the completion of these preliminary stages, you may improve your preparation with the aid of these five suggestions.
● Train Users on Cybersecurity Practices
The first line of defense for your security is made up of employees. Make sure they adhere to good hygiene practices, such as using strong password protection, connecting only to secure Wi-Fi, and keeping a continuous eye out for phishing on all of their devices. This will make it more difficult for a hacktivist to access the network or computer system and launch an attack.
● Perform Regular Vulnerability Assessments
Infrastructures are evaluated for possible flaws using vulnerability assessments, which also offer guidelines for analysis, prioritizing, and repair.
● Use Multifactor Authentication Systems
Systems with multiple factors of authentication can assist in preventing the use of false or insecure login credentials.
● Implement Security Software
Information systems benefit from an additional layer of security provided by antivirus software.
● Create & Support Protection Procedures
It's crucial to develop and support protocols to follow in the case of a data breach when vulnerabilities have been detected, security software has been installed, and multifactor solutions are in operation.
Conclusion
Given the development of digital technology, it is inevitable that activists will use ethical and sometimes even immoral hacking methods to expose or bring to justice those they view as "evildoers." The greatest defense against hacktivism is to uphold a reliable and secure online presence, communicate with regulatory agencies, follow ethical standards, and integrate transparency into the company culture.
If you want to make a career in Ethical Hacking or want to learn about ethical hacking, consider enrolling yourself in the best hacking courses.
FAQ’s
Q1. Is the use of hacking to promote a political cause?
Ans. Yes, Internet activism, also known as hacktivism, refers to the employment of computer-based methods of civil disobedience, such as hacking, to advance a political cause or social change.
Q2. What type of hacker is politically motivated?
Ans. Hacktivists are hackers who have political goals. The hacktivist employs comparable tools and possesses the same abilities as a hacker. An activist's primary goal while engaging in hacking is to draw attention to a political issue.
Q3. What are real-world examples of Hacktivism?
Ans. One of the most well-known instances of hacktivism in the real world occurred when Julian Assange, the notorious WikiLeaks founder, released several emails between
Hillary Clinton and her campaign manager. The Clinton campaign suffered due to the released emails, and many people attribute a big portion of her defeat to the issue. 12 Russian hackers were subsequently charged by the Department of Justice with the email attacks.
Q4. What are the advantages of Hacktivism?
Ans. The advantages of Hacktivism are:
● Hacking and unlawful security breaches to reveal misconduct.
● Hacktivism advances free speech and denounces organizations that impede or prohibit it.
● Guarding online freedom of expression
● Hacktivism with a social purpose.
● Protesting violent actions
Q5. Is Hacktivism a cyber-crime?
Ans. The techniques & approaches hacktivists use are unlawful and usually constitute an online crime. Because law enforcement seldom investigates these cases, they often go unpunished. The losses that result are typically not serious, and it could be a complex task for law enforcement to find these hackers.
